PUCCINI Butterfly / Freni, Domingo, Karajan 0734037

Unitel's catalog seems to have passed into the DGG orbit, with Mirella Freni's portrayal of Madama Butterfly among the highlights . . . Freni never sang the role on stage . . . but her grasp of the charcacter is wondrous . . . Domingo is the engaging bounder, while Robert Kerns is equally photogenic as a sympathetic Sharpless. The Vienna Philharmonic's plush sound matches the conductor's approach.

Record Review /
Joel Kasow,
Fanfare (Tenafly, NJ) / 01. November 2005

This is Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's sensitively stylized vision of "Madama Butterfly". It is not a memento of a staged performance, not an ode to singing heads, not an analytical essay in laryngeal close-ups. Thank goodness. Abandoning kitsch clichés, it manages to be illuminating and original at virtually every turn. The final scene conveys wrenching agony . . . Pinkerton -- a young, devilishly handsome, brutally athletic Plácido Domingo . . . Ponnelle's camera dwells lovingly on the expressive features of Mirella Freni, a Butterfly whose exquisite frailty masks essential strength . . . Most striking, perhaps, is the prelude to the last act. During Cio-Cio-San's vigil, the heroine envisions a new life with Pinkerton in a naively romanticized America . . . The musical elements, perfectly synchronized, are predicated on refinement and introspection. Herbert von Karajan coaxes extraordinarily delicate nuances from his cast; one isn't likely to hear so many pianissimo phrases in an opera-house "Butterfly". The maestro also sustains extraordinarily slow tempos that never seem to endanger tension. And the vaunted Vienna Philharmonic plays with warmth and brilliance that make Puccini sound like a great symphonist.

Record Review /
Martin Bernheimer,
Opera (London) / 01. October 2007

Conductor Herbert von Karajan . . . reveals the sheer beauty of the music and Mirella Freni is radiantly beautiful and affecting as Butterfly.